Originally Posted by
Gwilly
Great trip report! Quick question: are those upgrade offers from AF "common", and do you have to book the trip with them to receive them, or would they also come if you booked with Delta but on AF metal?
Thanks for your comment! I fly AF 3-4 times a year and I've only gotten the offer once. It's probably more common in the summer or in low-yield markets where Y gets oversold. The offers usually seem to happen when the flight is oversold in Y to avoid aving to do too many free Op-ups. There is a thread about this in the AF forum if you're interested.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-f...s-cash-af.html
Originally Posted by
dchen2
I agree with you about one of AF's strengths being their good esthetics.
AF holds a special place in my heart, being the first foreign carrier I flew in a premium cabin. At the time, DL/AF still allowed DL SWU (old useless international M+ fare ones) to be used to upgrade any AF Prem Econ fare and I got in right before DL/AF closed the loophole, shortly afterwards only allowing SWU use on 2-3X more expensive full fare PE W fares.
Since I had only flown the DL (NWA World Business) A330 slanted Biz seats before the AF experience, my AF flights seemed very nice.
Of course, now that I have experienced SQ/LH/CX F not to mention many lie-flat J seats, if I flew on AF's old slanted J seats again today, I suspect my experience wouldn't be nearly as rosy. Ahh, I guess it's all relative!
I was glad to hear AF finally announced the upgrade of their J product to the top notch Cirrus reverse herringbone lie-flat seat that CX/AA/US/DL (747) uses in their new J. Hopefully AF rolls out the new J upgrades quickly!
When stuck flying Econ, I'll still take DL/UA/AA's E+ product in 9 across seating vs a glitzier carrier like Emirate/Ethiad/Lufthansa's 10 across 31" pitch seats.
Outside of affordable J fare sales and award redemption J/F tickets, the sweet spot is with the true PE products AF/CX/BA/QA offers. And it provides a safety net in case the Econ->J upgrade fails. I try to encourage the trend by voting with my revenue spend on the routes I'm flying.
More carriers need to introduce a true PE product to slot in the giant canyon that has opened up between cattle class Y and 5-10X more expensive hedonistic class J. Thank god for the USA domestic usable SWUs in the meantime!
P.S., in regards to the USA carriers' econ plus product, the only example I can think of with a wider E+ product is AA's new 77W main cabin extra product. AA made those extra legroom E+ seats 9 across vs the rest of the E cabin being 10 across. Unfortunately AA's old 772 birds were all 9 across in E so this case is more of a one step backwards and then forwards.
Ah...the days when you could upgrade an SWU from a low Premium Economy A fare...those were the days. Now it seems AF doesn't even release normal O J-award inventory to DL pax...or it's just very very rare. I guess if I'll want to try AF's new flat-beds (when they get around to installing them) I'll have to shell out the cash. Form what I've read AF will be re-doing the F cabin as well, but haven't announced any details officially.
I definitely wish more airlines would go the true Premium Econ product route. There is too large a gap between Y and J products anymore. US airline E+ products are definitely better than being in Y, except maybe exit rows. It's a shame that AA has given in to the 3-4-3 trend, so E+ on AA probably makes the most difference.